Palm Beach Police Say They'll Seek a Rape Charge

By TIM GOLDEN,

Published: May 8, 1991

PALM BEACH, Fla., May 7—
The Palm Beach police said today that they would recommend to prosecutors that William Kennedy Smith be charged with the rape of a 29-year-old woman at his family's ocean-front estate here on March 30.

"We're confident that a sexual battery did occur," said a police spokesman, Officer Craig E. Gunkel. "We feel we have a good case." Sexual battery is the term used in Florida law for crimes of rape.

The State Attorney for Palm Beach County, David H. Bludworth, said he expected his office to take some action on the case by the end of the week. He refused to be more specific.

After reviewing the police evidence, Mr. Bludworth would have four options. He could file the charges against Mr. Smith that the police recommend in their affidavit of probable cause, which is the sworn statement that the police said they expected to file this week.

He could also file different charges or deem the case unworthy of prosecution and return it to the police.

Finally, Mr. Bludworth could leave the decision to a grand jury. Under Florida law, evidence must be presented to a grand jury for crimes subject to the death penalty, but a grand jury can also review evidence in lesser offenses. While the option has rarely been used in Palm Beach County in cases of rape, Mr. Bludworth has called it "a possibility." Some lawyers and law-enforcement officials said the necessity of a grand jury was made more likely by the political sensitivity of the Smith case. No Hint of Type of Charge

As he left the office of one of his Washington lawyers, Herbert J. MillerJr., Mr. Smith declined to comment to a reporter on the police announcement. "I'd love to talk to you, but my lawyers advised me not to," The Associated Press quoted him as saying. "As soon as I can talk to you, I will."

A lawyer for Mr. Smith in Miami, Mark P. Schnapp, also declined comment.

The police would not say what charge they would ask the prosecutors to file. But Officer Gunkel and other police officials suggested strongly that they would recommend sexual battery in the second degree, as New York Newsday reported today, quoting unnamed sources.

Florida criminal statutes define the crime as sexual intercourse with a person at least 12 years old that is against their will and involves "physical force and violence not likely to cause serious personal injury." It carries a sentence of up to 15 years of imprisonment.

In interviews today, Palm Beach police officials would give little indication of how they had resolved the questions and contradictions that have emerged from various accounts of the incident at the Kennedy estate. Questions and Conflicts Remain

It is not disputed that the woman returned to the compound with Mr. Smith after dancing and drinking with him at a Palm Beach nightclub, Au Bar. Mr. Smith was accompanied by his uncle, Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, and the senator's son Patrick.

According to the police report on the incident, she said Mr. Smith, a 30-year-old student at Georgetown University Medical School, walked with her along the beach and then went by himself for a swim. She said she decided to leave and as she was walking back to the house, Mr. Smith tackled her by the pool and raped her. "The victim said that she was struggling and telling him no," said the police report, which listed the woman's physical injuries as cuts, bruises and a possible fractured rib.

Mr. Smith, who has not denied having sex with the woman, called her accusations "a damnable lie."

Questions also arose about discrepancies in the statements of two friends who picked the woman up at the Kennedy mansion, about what happened to the woman's own car, and about an antique vase and a photograph that the police said were taken from the house.

Asked about reports that a number of people sleeping in the Kennedy house with their windows open told the police they heard no sounds of a struggle that night, Officer Gunkel said, "Obviously some of them are sound sleepers and might not hear anything."

Officer Gunkel said the police had compiled physical evidence implicating Mr. Smith in a rape. He said they had yet to receive the results of genetic tests that could determine whether Mr. Smith had had sex with the woman, but added that the analysis, being done at a Federal Bureau of Investigation laboratory in Virginia, was not considered crucial to the case. An Arrest Could Be Made

The police were also able to interview about three dozen people in connection with the case, Mr. Gunkel said. "William Kennedy Smith is the only person to my knowledge that we asked to come forward and didn't," he said. Mr. Smith voluntarily gave blood and hair samples to the police.

Having found cause to prosecute Mr. Smith, police officials said they could, in theory, arrest him now if he were in Palm Beach. But they said it was standard procedure in cases involving lengthy investigations to seek an arrest warrant by filing a probable cause affidavit.

It was unclear how long Mr. Bludworth would take in deciding whether to file charges.

Police officials said that after they present their evidence and affidavit to the State Attorney's Office, it would take some time for prosecutors to sift through the evidence.

But there were indications that prosecutors were already quite familiar with the evidence. Police officials and other people familiar with the case said an assistant state attorney, Moira Lasch, had been working with police investigators for some time, and had taken part in witness interviews.

And when he was asked in an interview this morning when he would take action on the case, Mr. Bludworth said, "We should have something by the end of the week."

He would not say whether he meant that prosecutors would make their decision on filing charges, or simply set out a timetable for doing so.

Photo: The Palm Beach police said they would recommend to prosecutors that William Kennedy Smith be charged with rape. Mr. Smith was in Washington yesterday with his mother, Jean Kennedy Smith. (Associated Press)